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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Flashpoint contributor Stephanie Snow drops by the blog today to answer our questions. You might know her from her blog, Bare Knuckle Writer, or from previous stories from Third Person Press. And if not, get to know her now! Her story in Flashpoint is "A Year and A Day."

Third Person Press: Where did you grow up? Do you think your childhood influenced you to be a writer?Stephanie Snow: I grew up all over Atlantic Canada, the result of job migration. Because of that, I read a lot; it was easy to do in the car while we drove to a new town and books kept me company until I made new friends. That had to influence me to write, because sometimes I couldn't find the town library, or it was closed, and had to make up my own stories until I found new books. I guess it became a habit.

TPP: Who were your three favorite writers when you were young? Who are three favorites now?SS: When I was a kid, my favourites were J.R.R Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, and David Eddings. Now, Pratchett has stayed on the list, but has been joined by Stephen King and Patrick Rothfuss. But this changes day to day, depending on my mood.

TPP: What are you most likely to be doing when you're not writing?SS: Tabletop roleplaying, working my way through my giant to-read pile, blogging over at Bare Knuckle Writer, or editing whatever the hell I just wrote until it makes sense.

TPP: Do you have any writing habits or rituals?SS: Get up, get coffee, read over the previous day's writing while drinking it, make notes on what needs to be done today, go for a run, shower, get more coffee, start writing. Any or all of these steps may happen out of order, more than once, or not at all...I may be defining 'ritual' loosely.

TPP: What's your favorite beverage while writing?SS: Coffee: strong as death, black as hell, and bitter as a broken heart.TPP: Sounds...invigorating. :) While not writing?SS: Same as above, but in a smaller cup. Or a single malt scotch so smoky it's like drinking a bonfire.

TPP: If you were a superhero, what would your name and power/ability be? Or would you be a supervillain instead?SS: There is no universe in which I acquire superpowers and don't become a supervillain. Doesn't matter what the power is. I could spontaneously develop the ability to talk to fruit and would still use it to raise a kumquat army and overthrow the Apple Cultural Hegemony. But if I get to pick a power, then I'll take electricity and lightning. And I'd be known on Wanted Lists the world over as Lux. Except, sexism being what it is, they'd probably call me Lady Lux or some bullshit until I vapourized someone over it. This? This is why I end up a supervillain.

TPP: What are you working on now? What's your next writing project?SS: Right now the Big Project is the re-rewrite of a novel I crapped out a zero draft of two years ago. Next project? Not sure yet, but maybe the re-re-rewrite. Or a western, because I like westerns and haven't written one yet.

Monday, September 29, 2014

The I-Know-But-I'm-Not-Going-To-Tell-You Story

A big part of writing is structuring the flow of information, managing what should be withheld, and when it should be revealed. If you want to surprise your reader with a plot twist at the end, or if there's a mystery that your protagonist must solve, it requires a thoughtful, planned release of facts, feelings, insights, discoveries, motivations, actions. However, this isn't the same as being vague.

The Problem

Some inexperienced writers misinterpret the process of withholding information by making everything elusive. They think this will increase the aura of mystery or suspense. Aspects of the plot are ambiguously hinted at, but for reasons that aren't necessary they are kept from the reader. This is a good way to wreck your story

Perhaps a protagonist has a superpower that came on suddenly late in life. The narrative is about how it has affected her: she's isolating herself, feeling a bit crazy, running away from the world because she finds people's interest in her too oppressive, but the author doesn't tell us what her power is. Instead it says vague things like, "Her ability heightened everything, but also set her apart." "She began to avoid situations where her powers would be needed."

Even if you think you have a good reason for not telling your reader, it's probably not good enough. Because when we are aware that crucial facts are being withheld it takes us out of the story. We think about why the author isn't being forthcoming instead of being wrapped up in the narrative.

The Fix

Be specific about any information that is given to the reader. If you don't want us to worry about something we can't know yet, don't tell us it exists or tells us part of the truth. We can deal with incomplete information if we are given enough concrete details all the way along.

Here are two ways to deal with the above example:

Let us know early on what her power is. This can be incomplete, but it must be specific. We learn that she hears people's thoughts, but--if this advances your plot--won't find out until later that she can intercede in what she overhears.

Don't mention the fact that she has a superpower until you're ready for that information to come out. This option is harder to pull off than the first, because you don't want your reader to feel tricked, but it can work as long as the clues you put in all along are specific. She seems crazy, as if she's hallucinating. Late in the story we realize this is not mental illness, but an explained--though unexpected--superpower.

You want wonder in your story. But that should be wonder as in "awe," not as in "I wonder why the author is keeping things from me," or even worse: "I wonder what I should be doing instead of reading this story."

To keep your story a page-turner instead of a head-scratcher, root out vagueness.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Today, Patrick M. Charron drops by the blog to answer our questions. Patrick's story in Flashpoint is "Battle Scars," an epic fantasy tale.

Patrick says this is "all you need to know about me."

Third Person Press: Where did you grow up?

Patrick M. Charron: In a small village outside of Windsor Ontario, named McGregor. I grew up on the outskirts of the small community; it was a rural environment with a forest on one side, a 50 acre wheat farm on the other, and a cattle pasture across the street. There wasn't a lot of inspiration in the area, aside from the landscape. Our games as children were rather limited, mostly involving the agitation of said cattle. Though I have since tried to replicate the sheer terror of having an entire herd of cattle charging headlong at an 8 year old fat kid, thus far, I haven't been able to reproduce the feeling.

TPP: Who were your three favorite writers when you were young? Who are three favorites now?

PMC: As I noted previously, our play was somewhat limited as a child, and as an adolescent I spent a great deal of time playing baseball. I spent very little time reading; the only pleasure reading I enjoyed were biographies of famous baseball players. It wasn't until I was nearly twenty that I began to read for pleasure, finding the sci-fi and fantasy genres for the first time. My current favourite authors, if I have to limit it to three, would be R.A Salvatore, Brandon Sanderson, and J.K. Rowling. If I'm allowed to extend it a bit, I'm also partial to J.R.R Tolkien, Stephen King, Robert Jordan, and a writer by the name of Sherry Ramsey - you should definitely check her out.

(Editors' note--haha, Patrick, we see what you did there!)

TPP: What are you most likely to be doing when you're not writing?

PMC: I am not a terribly interesting person, as I spend most of my time working my day job as an accountant with the Provincial Government and my night job as a supervisor at the local Marion Bridge grocery store. My free time is spent enjoying time with my family. I do however enjoy gaming and we go to Hal-Con as a family every year.

TPP: Do you have any writing habits or rituals?

PMC: I typically write late at night, in short bursts. I do envision, at some point in the future, spending time on the deck or by the pool, writing while the gentle breeze moves among the trees, with a hot cup of coffee within easy reach.

TPP: What's your favorite beverage while writing? While not writing?

PMC: On both counts, coffee. Morning, noon and night, writing, working, or relaxing. Coffee. Can't live without the Caffeine.

TPP: If you were a superhero, what would your name and power/ability be? Or would you be a supervillain instead?

PMC: As
much as I would love to be a super villain, I just don't have the mean
streak necessary. And as much as I love Super-hero stories, I've never
really considered being a super-hero myself. I've always seen myself as
part of the supporting cast, the guy that makes sure the guns are
loaded and the plane is all fueled up.

TPP: What are you working on now? What's your next writing project?

PMC: I'm working on a fantasy novel (shocking, I know) with a wayward dwarf
who forms an allegiance with a venerable elf warrior, a disgraced
military captain and hungry for adventurous Halfling cook. They endure
prisons, portals and persons of ill-repute in an effort to imprison an
ancient demon the dwarf was fool enough to release.

TPP: Is there a question you've always wanted to answer as a writer? Pose it and then write your answer. :)

Q: What is the one thing you worry about most when writing?

PMC: That my characters will refuse to behave as I want them to, will run wild and dominate my story in ways I can't foresee.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Today's interview is with Third Person Press co-editor, Nancy Waldman. Her Flashpoint story is "Hearth's Glow" and there is absolutely no truth to the rumour that it's at the end of the book because it took her so long to put the puzzle together. Read to the end. It will make sense.

typical Texas girl

TPP: Where did you grow up? Do you think your childhood influenced you to be a writer?

NSMW: I grew up in Texas—mostly Houston, but also Austin, San Antonio and from age 7 to 9, the little coastal town of Freeport. It was exciting and fun to live near the beach and the experience left me so full of sense memories that I set my first novel there.

I come from a family of writers. The walls of our house were lined in bookcases. I have fiction, poetry and memoirs written by my grandparents and my father; my mother has hundreds of journals that she's kept. We all write something.
So I figure that writing is in my genes—as are, presumably, the toxic chemicals produced by the Dow Chemical Company in Freeport, Texas back in the days before we'd ever heard the word "pollution." My dad used to say that it was the smell of money. But don't let the sparkly photo of me fool you. We didn't have much of it. The fabulous lavender and gold costume was made by my mom for our dance recital with teacher, Almeda Lobella. But that's another story.

TPP: Who were your three favorite writers when you were young? Who are three favorites now?

NSWM: As a little girl, Carolyn Keene—the pen name for the writers of the Nancy Drew mysteries. Ray Bradbury when I was a teen. Anne McCaffrey, as a young adult.
Now? That's a hard question. I just discovered Ruth Ozeki. I've only read one of her books, but loved it (A Tale for the Time Being). I think Connie Willis is wonderful. Finally, Elizabeth Moon—a fellow Texan.

TPP: What are you most likely to be doing when you're not writing?

NSWM: You can find me wasting time on the Internet, checking Facebook, Twitter, writing forums or my favourite fashion blog, Tom and Lorenzo, Fabulous & Opinionated. But wait! It's an addiction I'm actively attempting to modify. I love to do art, digital or otherwise. I quilt, play the piano a little. I love to cook and garden—when my body lets me—and read, of course. And, I fully intend to go back to websites and blogging someday. After years of doing my own creativity site and other blogs, I ran out of steam for that and had to let it go for a while.

TPP: Do you have any writing habits or rituals?

NSWM: I'm drawn more to variety* than habits or rituals. But, I've recently re-instituted a dedicated two-hour writing time (usually from 12 to 2)—with a strict "No Internet" rule. I put on my headphones and stay focussed. At the end of those two hours I can let it go and do something else for the rest of the day—or choose to keep writing if it's flowing.

But it's ridiculously easy for me to get into non-productive ruts, so I try to mix it up. If I am into a negative period I [eventually remember to] use short meditative practices to get that censorious, left-brained thinking out of my way or do timed writing sprints. I write Morning Pages (see Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way) to release mental logjams. I also use a treadmill desk; walking while writing can change things up and if nothing else, get the blood circulating—hopefully all the way to my brain.

TPP: What's your favorite beverage while writing? While not writing?

NSWM: I drink two cups of strong coffee with lots of milk in the morning and a cup of green tea in the afternoon. Did I say I'm not one for routine?* I don't really like green tea, but they tell me it will allow me to live forever, so I'm up with that. After hours, I enjoy white wine.

TPP: If you were a superhero, what would your name and power/ability be?

NSWM: Living in Canada with most of my family far away, I would prefer my superpower to be: Being in Two Places at the Same Time.

My name: Echo? Doppelgänger? Duplo. Yeah.

TPP: What are you working on now? What's your next writing project?

NSWM: So Many Things. I'm half-way through the first draft of a superhero story involving bees. I am focussed on short fiction right now because my goal is to get stories published in pro magazines. We shall see whether that's a short or long term goal. The odds are terrible! I do love to write novels, but since I might have Dow Chemicals lingering in my body and because that green tea may not work as effectively as I've been promised by the Internet, short fiction seems wise until someone's beating down my door for something meatier...or until I change my mind.*

TPP: Bonus: Is there a question you've always wanted to answer as a writer? Pose it and then write your answer. :)

NSWM:

Q: What's your best analogy for story writing?

A: I thought you'd never ask.
I think of stories as puzzles. But, of course, not a ready-made puzzle that comes in a box with a picture and a known number of pieces. It's a puzzle that I have to find the right (and right number of) pieces to and then fit them together in the proper way so that the final result is perfect. Sometimes I provide too many pieces so the result falls off the edges of the coffee table. Or maybe the first draft looks more like a pre-school puzzle because it needs more pieces. Often there are ragged borders or holes in the middle. Thinking of it this way helps because a puzzle is a game. And games, while sometimes frustrating —"They forgot to put all the pieces in this box!"—are more often fun, and ultimately do have a solution. With this in mind, I can stop taking it all so seriously, remember that there should be a whole and satisfying "picture" at the end, and know that any problems I'm having can be fixed, because it's all under my control.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Sherry, here, with another way NOT to wreck a story. Every story asks the reader to suspend his or her disbelief to a certain extent—to willingly enter into the world of the story and accept its context for the duration of the tale. However, some stories ask or expect too much. That’s the “swallow-an-elephant” story.

The Problem
This story problem asks the reader to accept something they simply cannot. This is not a problem of genre—it’s entirely reasonable to ask a reader to accept the existence of magic, vampires, FTL travel, or other things that don’t exist in what we fondly think of as “the real world” if that’s the genre in which the story is written. The reader should come to the genre story with those expectations—in that case the onus is on them to be prepared for what they will find in the pages of the story.

No, this problem presents the reader with something far more challenging. It’s usually an aspect of the world or plot that:

- is not properly explained so that the reader can accept it

- does not make sense within the context of the story

- brings in story elements without proper setup

- requires all the characters to be complete idiots in order for it to work

The Fix
Depending on the particular flavour of the problem, the fix can entail a few different things. Sometimes you, as the author, need to bounce the idea around with some trusted readers or friends. “Does this make sense to you?” “Would you buy into a world where...” “Could you believe that the characters would do this?” Ask them to be honest. Maybe it all makes sense to you, because you know the one crucial element that makes it make sense—but you’ve failed to share that with your readers.

You may need to look at the elements of your story to make sure that you’ve set up what’s necessary for those aspects of the plot to be believable. Why would a government allow a particular practice? Why would experimenters deem a certain procedure acceptable? Why wouldn’t characters have seen a certain event coming, and prepared for it? Your problem might be in the setup at the beginning of the story, or in the way a problem is solved at the end, or anywhere else along the way. Everything needs to make sense within the context of the world and the story you’ve built.

And finally, does the story only work if your characters are completely blind to consequences, lacking in common sense, or making inexplicable choices? If so, you need to fix something. Readers usually won’t cut your characters a break or root for them to succeed if they’re only in trouble because of their own incompetence.

Don’t ask your readers to swallow an elephant. It’s simply too much work for them, and they’ll soon turn to something less challenging.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Katrina Nicholson drops by the blog today to answer our interview questions. Katrina's story in Flashpoint is "Hair Trigger." For those of you who read Kat's story in Unearthed, "One Word," you'll recognize some of the characters in this story.

(Not a photorealistic representation of Kat)

Third Person Press: Where did you grow up? Do you think your childhood influenced you to be a writer?

Katrina Nicholson: I grew up here in Sydney.
My parents fed me a steady diet of books and wacky invented games. If
that's not encouraging for a young writer, I don't know what is.

TPP: Who were your three favorite writers when you were young? Who are three favorites now?

KN: The following are AMONG my favorite authors. I have a lot.

Then:

Robert Munsch

Because the princess calling the prince a bum is still the best ending to a fairy tale ever.

Anne McCaffrey

Because girls who want a pony have obviously never heard of dragons.

Bill Waterson

Because if you think Calvin and Hobbes is over a 9-year-old's head, you didn't know me when I was 9.

Now:

Jack McDevitt

Because spaceships + archaeology = you just blew my mind.

Kelley Armstrong

Because oh dear, have the werewolves misplaced their clothing AGAIN?

J.K. Rowling

Because I want to BE her, dammit.

TPP: What are you most likely to be doing when you're not writing?

KN: Working (girl's gotta eat) or
reading through the massive pile of library books that have followed me
home (occupational hazard).

TPP: Do you have any writing habits or rituals?

KN: Outlines. WRITE ALL
THE OUTLINES. My first draft ritual involves not pushing past the point
where I know exactly what's going to happen. I go for walks to watch
head movies and work out
what I'll write the next day. Rewriting, however... I make a list of
things that need fixing and plow through it. My ritual involves not
being interrupted by things like phones, food, and bedtime.

TPP: What's your favorite beverage while writing?

KN: Candy.

TPP: While not writing?

KN: Candy. My brain is fueled by candy.

TPP: If you were a superhero, what would your name and power/ability be? Or would you be a supervillain instead?

KN: I'd have teleportation powers and no
dorky superhero name because I'd be so sneaky that no one would ever
see me to call me anything.

TPP: What are you working on now? What's your next writing project?

KN: I'm not writing anything now because
I just got a new job. The last thing I did was a YA short story about a
Vodou mage in an alternate history
Haiti. As for the next thing... I'm not sure. Possibly a romantic comedy screenplay involving bomb sniffing seals.

TPP: Bonus: Is there a question you've always wanted to answer as a writer? Pose it and then write your answer. :)

KN: I'd be very surprised if no one saw this coming...

Q: May we pay you buckets of money to publish your novel and turn it into the next Hunger Games?

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Today, Third Person Press co-Editor Julie A. Serroul answers our interview questions. Of course we wouldn't let ourselves off the hook! Julie's story in Flashpoint is a rather unusual foray into science fiction for her, titled "Spark."

Third Person Press: Where did you grow up? Do you think your childhood influenced you to be a writer? Julie A. Serroul: As a young girl, one of the most exciting days of my week was bicycling the 3 km to the end of the road to meet the Bookmobile. Climbing up into that van which was literally spilling books from its shelves onto the floor felt so exciting and looking around in it was like a treasure hunt. Even though I was quite “outdoorsy”, the tree-house that I built was yet another place to hide away and read. My appetite for books never waned, and when you love them that much, wanting to put your own thoughts and ideas on paper has an irresistible pull. Also, when you are a natural introvert, which I was as a child, “speaking” on a page was far less intimidating. After all, in a story you control both sides of the conversation…although some characters are quite willful and disobedient.

TPP: Who were your three favorite writers when you were young? Who are three favorites now? JAS: As a kid I loved Carolyn Keene, C.S. Lewis and Lucy Maud Montgomery. Now I love many writers, but my lasting loves are Dean Koontz and Bob Salvatore. I have a love/hate relationship with George R.R. Martin who really needs to be less blood-thirsty about killing my favorite characters.

TPP: What are you most likely to be doing when you're not writing? JAS: Reading, Zumba, Turbo-kick, Drinking red wine, Watching Movies, Four-Wheeling, I have a lot of hobbies, unfortunately, which means lots of distractions from writing. I also have a day-job that allows me to do everything else I love.

TPP: Do you have any writing habits or rituals? JAS: Pour a nice hot cup of coffee or peppermint tea, depending on the time of day and my mood, and then either stare out the window at the scenery and think for a while, or at some of my lovely fantasy/sci-fi art pieces. I do a substantial amount of “head-writing” before I set pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. And I am sometimes in the mood to curl up in my comfy chair with a pen and paper instead of at my computer keyboard which sometimes reminds me too much of my day job and can stifle my creativity. The process of “head-writing” reminds me of when I was a kid and used to “day-dream”. This practice was hugely frowned on by my teachers, but now serves me well!

TPP: If you were a superhero, what would your name and power/ability be? Or would you be a supervillain instead? JAS: I’d likely be an Anti-hero named “Crank-porter” and my superpower would be to transport all cranky, irritable, disagreeable people onto the same island where their punishment would be to have to deal with each other!

TPP: What are you working on now? What's your next writing project? JAS: I am currently revising a story about a couple of Anti-heroes, coincidentally. After that I’m going to re-visit some other stories that I have abandoned to see if I was too hasty. I often fall in love with new work and out of love with the pieces that are at the editing phase - when the fun is over and the work begins…it is a very bad habit!

TPP: Is there a question you've always wanted to answer as a writer? Pose it and then write your answer. :) Q: Have you ever used eavesdropping on the public conversations of strangers to inspire a story? JAS: Yes, but I prefer not to hear the whole conversation, only a snippet of something intriguing. Firstly, I don’t want to intrude on people’s privacy, and secondly, what I imagine them to be talking about is usually a lot more interesting and fun than the mundane ordinary thing it turns out to be if you listen to the end!

Friday, September 19, 2014

The Info-Dump – Slamming the Brakes on your Pacing

There are so many details that need to be in your story to add richness, flesh out your characters, bring in their backstories, explain the history of what brought your story to this point, etc. But inserting these details should be more like scattering bird seed than using a backhoe. In order to understand info-dumping, you really have to have a good grasp on Pacing and its multi-layered impact on your story.

The Problem
If “Pacing” is the car that your story is driving down the road, an info-dump is a fistful of pointy tacks thrown in the way. Whatever the pace of your story at that point, info-dumping will slam on the brakes. The Pacing of your story is its movement and momentum and you want your reader along for the ride. Making them stop to read huge road signs of detailed information will make them get off the ride in frustration.

Here is an example– If your Main Character joins a circus as a roadie and is now on a dangerous mission to steal the abused horses and escape, you, as the writer are going to want to explain how she got there, why she is motivated to do this, the fact that she is very talented with horses, and so on. And your reader will want to know all this. But mostly they want her to save the horses before the one in the worst shape dies, and to get her own butt out of there! Reading four pages about her past and her skills set is going to frustrate your reader. You need to weave it in small bits all the way through, painlessly.

The Fix
There are many tools in a writer’s arsenal to accomplish this, including:

External Dialogue with other characters--comments about how differently they used to do things back home on the ranch, or comments about evil bankers foreclosing on hard-working people, and so on, spread into numerous conversations throughout the story.

Internal Dialogue--comparisons in her head of the vast differences between this setting and her past world (this allows you to paint the current setting, and draw in details of her past).

Sensory induced memories--smells in the circus could give her brief flashes of memories from her past.

These are just some of the ways to scatter the “birdseed” of information throughout your story. If done skillfully, your reader acquires the knowledge without even realizing it. They never get off the ride, and every relevant question is answered by the time the car crosses the finish line. Victory Lap!!

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Next up is an interview with Peter Andrew Smith, whose story in Flashpoint is titled, "Invasive Species."

Third Person Press: Where did you grow up? Do you think your childhood influenced you to be a writer?Peter Andrew Smith: I grew up in southern New Brunswick in a household filled with books and in a family who loves to read. I can remember weekly trips to the library and eagerly working my way through the bookcases around the house. With a head filled with so many stories there is little wonder I began writing!

TPP: Who were your three favorite writers when you were young? Who are three favorites now?PAS: As a boy I loved Robert E. Howard, J R.R Tolkien, and L Spague de Camp. I have so many favorite authors now it is hard to name just three so I'll go with the writers of the last three books I read- Mike Moscoe, Larry Correia, and Gini Koch.

TPP: What are you most likely to be doing when you're not writing? PAS: Playing with, singing to, or chasing my three year old daughter around the yard.

TPP: Do you have any writing habits or rituals? PAS: I tend to write either early in the morning before everyone gets up or late at night after our house gets quiet.

TPP: What's your favorite beverage while writing? While not writing? PAS: I never drink and write. When not writing I enjoy a good cup of tea.

TPP: If you were a superhero, what would your name and power/ability be? Or would you be a supervillain instead?PAS: If I were a superhero I would be "Nappingman" with the ability to sleep at any moment and wake up refreshed and ready to go (did I mention we have a three year old?).

TPP: What are you working on now? What's your next writing project?PAS: I am currently half way through a draft of a book which needs to be finished and back to my editor by June 2015 (which seemed a long way off when I signed the contract). After that I'm going to pick up some short stories in progress about a war of liberation which only lasted eight minutes and thirty one seconds, a medic trapped in a pregnant giant spider's crashed spaceship, and a dragon staging a protest on the Canso causeway.

TPP: Is there a question you've always wanted to answer as a writer? Pose it and then write your answer.Q: What inspires you to write? PAS: Reading. When I read something that is well written and engaging my mind heads off in a hundred different ways and I want to write. When I read something that is poorly written and unengaging I start to think about how I would write the story. Either way the more I read the more I am inspired to write.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Next in our series of author interviews is Bruce V. Miller, whose story in Flashpoint is titled, "And Again."

Third Person Press: Where did you grow up? Do you think your childhood influenced you to be a writer? Bruce V. Miller: I grew up in Margaree, which is quite rural, even by Cape Breton standards. I certainly learned to love reading when I was young and was always encouraged in this by my parents. I recall writing a short story that was a little too strange for my high school English teacher. In retrospect, I took this to be a good thing.

TPP: Who were your three favorite writers when you were young? Who are three favorites now? BVM: In high school I was big fantasy fan, so I loved Tolkien, and Robert Jordan. I also loved Robert Heinlein after reading Stranger in a Strange Land. I’m not decisive enough to pick favourites, but currently I really look forward to anything by David Mitchell, Malcolm Gladwell, or Thomas King.

TPP: What are you most likely to be doing when you're not writing? BVM: Teaching school, taking care of kids, cooking, reading, and wishing I had time to play music or write.

TPP: Do you have any writing habits or rituals? BVM: Sadly, my most recent writing habit is to write a first draft that illustrates very clearly that I am quite rusty and have to re-learn some basics.

TPP: If you were a superhero, what would your name and power/ability be? Or would you be a supervillain instead? BVM: Tangential Man or Captain Non-Sequitor—my super power would be coming up with unexpected ideas or plans to save the world. I suppose this could work just fine for a supervillain as well.

TPP: What are you working on now? What's your next writing project? BVM: I had an idea to write a magical-realism biography of Jorge Luis Borges, but so far that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

As part of our Flashpoint campaign, we'll be featuring our authors here on the news blog. We sent them all some questions and waited to see what they had to say. As usual, they didn't disappoint! First up is Kerry Anne Fudge, whose story in Flashpoint is titled, "Fever."

Kerry's the one on the left! ;)

Third Person Press:Where did you grow up? Do you think your childhood influenced you to be a writer?

Kerry Anne Fudge: I grew up in a rural area with my mom and dad. My siblings are
all older than I am, so I was raised as an only child. Our neighborhood
was very small, and there weren't many kids my age. So my imagination had
the time to flourish. I was telling stories to my big brothers before I
could even put them down on paper. And when I discovered reading, that
was better than finding a pot of gold. I devoured books and fell in love
with the written word. So yes, I have to say that my childhood
influenced me in becoming a writer.

TPP: Who were your three favorite writers when you were young? Who are three favorites now?

KAF: When I was
young I read anything and everything by R.L Stine. On the complete
opposite end, I also loved Lurlene McDaniel. I also discovered the
'Deathlands' series by the time I was twelve. I later learned that they
were written by different authors, but the style was similar and I
devoured them. As an adult, I have way too many fave authors. But my
current three are J.R. Ward, Stephen King, and George R.R Martin.

TPP: What are you most likely to be doing when you're not writing?

KAF: When I'm not writing, and have time to myself, I can be found doing a
number of things. I love to read on my old-yet-cozy sofa, play video
games, write letters (yes, penpalling is still alive and well), work on
my smashbooks, have coffee dates with my friends or watch a movie with
my fiance.

TPP: Do you have any writing habits or rituals?

KAF: When I write, there's a few
things I 'need'. If I am brainstorming or writing a first draft, I need
music and lots of it. When I edit, I need music to start but once I get
into the groove I need silence. And I tend to work better in the
evening/night time.

TPP: What's your favorite beverage while writing? While not writing?

KAF: My fave thing to drink when I am writing is iced coffee. When I'm not writing, I love water or pop.

TPP: If you were a superhero, what would your name and power/ability be? Or would you be a supervillain instead?

KAF: If I was a superhero, my abilities would be strength and speed. I think
because Superman was my first favorite comic book hero. As for my
'super' name...I'll be honest, names and titles are not my strong suit. I
think I'd just do awesome stuff around the city and let the general
population name me haha.

TPP: What are you working on now? What's your next writing project?

KAF: Right now I have
'wedding brain'. I recently became engaged so my thoughts keep drifting
back to ideas for my big day, even when I try to work on a story.
However, I started a short story before my vacation, but I have the
feeling it may become a novel. It's a vampire story, but a different
world from my current works and brand new characters.

TPP: Is there a question you've always wanted to answer as a writer? Pose it and then write your answer.

KAF: This is a generic question, but it is one I have never been asked (as far as I remember).

Q: What author influenced your writing the most?

A:
Even though I don't write like him, I have to say Stephen King. When I
was about eight, I snuck one of his anthologies from my sister. By that
age, I already loved Halloween and the creatures that go with it. But he
really brought out my love of the supernatural, which is why I now
write dark fantasy.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Our Indiegogo campaign for Flashpoint went live today! You may remember our campaign for Grey Area last year, which helped us immensely in producing a wonderful anthology of Cape Breton ghost stories.

Flashpoint is volume 4 in our Speculative Elements series. Each book contains a wide and varied mix of science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, and horror stories for the speculative fiction fan, and its predecessors, Undercurrents, Airborne, and Unearthed have been popular and successful. We have another great lineup of stories in Flashpoint; some old friends from other volumes, and some new voices.

The campaign offers a variety of perks to help thank you for your support. Please visit the campaign page and see what appeals to you. Your support means a lot to us! Thanks for believing in the power of the small press!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

You know how some stories seem to take forever to get going? You’ve read a few pages, and even though it might be somewhat interesting, there’s a little voice in the back of your mind saying “Okay, but when is something going to happen?” Maybe you get a few pages in, put the story down, and never pick it up again. Let’s look at what’s going on here.

The Problem

There are several ways this story problem manifests itself. Maybe there are too many pages at the beginning of the story where the characters are simply going about their normal lives. Maybe there’s a lot of explanation, setup, or historical backstory. Maybe the main character spends a lot of time thinking or talking about his or her problems but not doing anything about them. Whatever form it takes, the problem is that the story is taking too long to get moving. The reader might even put it down without ever “getting to the good stuff.” The writer has started the story too early.

The Fix

One way to fix a story with a slow beginning is to start the story in medias res—that is, in the middle of the action. Things are already happening here, and the reader jumps in with both feet and goes along for the ride. Writers tend to worry a little too much that the reader won’t understand what’s going on, or will be confused, but I think most readers are willing to catch a good wave and catch up as the story goes along. Note: this doesn't have to be car-chase-gunfight-explosion kind of action. But something out of the ordinary is happening.

If you don’t have a thrilling event or revelation that can start your story, consider this question: if the main character were looking back on the events of the story, where is the point where he or she would think, “that was the moment when everything changed”? If you can pinpoint that moment, you want to start your story as close to that moment as possible. A little setup to show the world of the story or the main character’s life in its “normal” state is fine, but don’t spend too long on this. Get to the moment of change as quickly as you can.

If neither of these tactics will work for your story and you still think all the front-end information is necessary for the reader, try rearranging things so that it comes later, and weaves into the story naturally through dialogue, character reflection, and interactions. You may find that not all of it is necessary for the story to work, after all. You want *just enough* information to keep your reader from feeling lost or confused, and no more than that. And you don't want to dump it on them all at once, at the start of the story.

I once cut the first ten pages from a short story—ten pages! And although I did add some of the information back in later, I found that most of it, I had written for me, so that I understood the characters and setting I was writing. This is a great exercise and vital for the writer to understand…but your readers probably don’t need that information. So keep that kind of writing in your notes and outlines, and start your readers off at the moment that will draw them into the story, grab them tight, and not let go until the end.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Successful short stories, especially science fiction and
fantasy, are built on cool ideas. It's that wonderful What if? of Inspiration
that sends a writer to the computer faster than anything else. We just can't
wait to get it down on paper.

The Problem

There's nothing more deflating as an editor than being
excited while reading a story with a super cool idea, only to find out that
there's no story to go with it. And, you might be surprised at how often we
encounter this. The situation is not well-developed, maybe the characters are
flat, there's no plot, or the worst: there's no ending. It just peters out.
The whole thing's gone all lukewarm on the page and it feels like a true missed
opportunity.

Here's a cool idea: scientists have invented a way for
people to be in more than one place at a time. If I write only about characters
who do this cool thing, that's not a story. I have to write about what happens when those characters do
that cool thing. Where's the struggle? The conflict? The resolution? Who does
or doesn't want them to? How does it change them? What are the unintended
consequences?

The Fix

Before writing, think it through. Think: this is my inspiration and enough of an idea
to hook the reader, but what kind of characters and action can most effectively
carry this cool idea so that it evolves into a full, satisfying narrative.

You don't have to outline unless you want to, but it helps
to have some idea about the ending. Where does this go? What am I going to give
the reader that makes this worth their time? If you can't imagine what the
pay-off is going to be for your reader, then maybe it's not quite ready yet.

There are some exceptions, but usually we keep reading
because we care about the characters, not the cool ideas. But having both is
golden. If you can thoroughly meld your characters and their actions to that
idea, then you'll have a winner.

Remember: a cool idea is the starting point for a story, not
the story itself.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

The Problem
Populating your story with compelling characters that make your reader want to turn the page seems a simple enough concept. Making your reader care about the character, or at least arousing their curiosity about what they may do next is a key element.

Apart from your main character, and possibly a villain or two, most stories require additional casting, the exception being a Main-Character-against-the-elements scenario type of story. The trick is knowing when enough is enough and two possible pitfalls are:

Pitfall #1: Overcasting – just because a story takes place in a village, every villager need not come out of their cottage.

Pitfall #2: Spotlight-Seeking Extras – extras are just that: characters there to support and help the main characters move the story forward. Usually they have only a brief line or two of dialogue at the most. However, sometimes they get “Delusions of Grandeur”. Don’t let them take over!

I have personally fallen into both of these traps. I have over-cast to the point of making a scene too confusing to be read. My reader would be thinking, “Wait, who said that? The hulking wood-cutter with the limp, or the skinny blacksmith with the missing finger?" Hmmm, well, it was one of those limb-challenged characters, anyway.

I have also created small part characters so interesting that my readers have temporarily lost interest in the plight of my MC. I had a crusty old sea captain that I needed to transport my MC and her companions from point A to point B. He was so interesting that his backstory leaked through in some of his dialogue. He was such a cool old sea dog that a few of my readers were disappointed when he didn’t play a bigger role, or reappear in the story later. Disappointing readers…big no-no.

The Fixes

When you have created too many extras, or supporting roles, you have to look hard at each character, their role, what they accomplish for you in the scene and how you can simplify to do more with less.

In Pitfall #1, you may have created the woodcutter because your characters need to travel through local woods and need a guide, and you may have created the blacksmith because the MC needs her weapon repaired. Not a problem. While attending the forge to have the hulking blacksmith with the missing finger repair her sword, your MC discovers that he knows the nearby wooded area like the back of his four-fingered hand because he collects the wood for his forge from there. Voila, the two characters have merged into one, reducing your cast, but advancing your plot as required.

As for Pitfall #2, the scene-stealer, you can water them down or even cut them out, if possible. In the case of my seadog, I cut back some of his dialogue, and shortened the description of him, but I didn’t choose the option of cutting him completely. I plan on doing a sequel to that story and he will be re-cast in a more substantial role. Some scene-stealers, like actress Melissa McCarthy, can’t be denied completely. Another option would have been to pare him back even further so that he is simply “the captain” with no interaction with the other characters at all and to shelve the fuller version of him to be dusted off and used in a different story later. Waste not, want not!

Just remember, they are extras, if they start giving you lip, send them to cool their heels at the Craft Services Table – you are the casting Director, and the Producer, the Set Designer, the Costume Designer…well, you get the picture!